I had the opportunity last week to see around the newly built, though not yet opened, State Technical Library in Prague, thanks to the kindness of Martin Svoboda, its director. Very different from its predecessor in the mediaeval town centre, the new library sits in a campus suburb a few stops away on the metro.… Continue reading Prague’s New Library
Tag: libraries
Inforum conference in Prague
As part of my visit to Prague last week, I gave a presentation to the opening session of the InForum conference. This is an international meeting, albeit with a mainly Central European audience, covering all aspects of modern librarianship and information science. It was the first time I had attended; it is a very efficiently-run… Continue reading Inforum conference in Prague
The library at night
I get to see a lot of new books about library / information science: part of the perks of being a journal editor, and part of the penance of being a postgraduate course tutor. Some are good, a few are very good, a few are bad, most are ordinary. Just occasionally a strikingly unusal one… Continue reading The library at night
Eating in the Library
We have become used to the idea that libraries of all kinds are adding on coffee shops and the like, and no longer necessarily barring food and drink being brought in. This increasing linkage between food and libraries seems to be taken a stage further in London, where a number of former libraries are being… Continue reading Eating in the Library
Libraries and the law: show-down in Wirral
I have been following with interest the furore following Wirral council's decision to close half its public library branches, and to transform the remainder into multi-purpose centres. This is not just because I come from this part of North-West England, but also because the issues have led to a new form of intervention from the… Continue reading Libraries and the law: show-down in Wirral
The attraction of lost libraries
Sometimes it seems that libraries are at their most alluring when they are lost forever, or even when they never existed. Jorges Luis Borges' infinite library is surely the best known of his many imaginative creations, while Alberto Manguel's The Library at Night devotes a good few pages to libraries which are no more, or… Continue reading The attraction of lost libraries
The World Digital Library
A new venture sponsored by UNESCO, the World Digital Library appears to want to be a front window for displaying (virtually) the cultural treasures of national libraries and similar 'heritage institutions' worldwide. Coverage from different regions and countries, at the moment, is a bit sparse, with less than 1200 items included. It has much less… Continue reading The World Digital Library
An obsession with our own future ?
One of the nice things about editing an academic journal - in my case the Journal of Documentation - is that one gets to write editorials. This doesn't give quite the scope for free expression that writing a blog does - for one thing, the publisher might take a view if the expression were too… Continue reading An obsession with our own future ?
The Occasional Informationist 